A new generation robot system for object picking

Robot systems for object picking from unsorted heaps of objects (ROs) have been investigated for more than twenty years. Nevertheless, the developed systems are not flexible and reliable enough for the widespread requirements of today. The paper presents first a classification of ROs according to the manner of sensory acquisition and processing of knowledge about the scene. Based thereupon, a new generation robot system is introduced, which involves reliable object picking without unintended lifting and damaging of neighbouring objects, whereas a minimum of previous knowledge about the scene is required. The robot system was realized and tested successfully in the shipping department of a German catalogue sales company.